Short Courses

Learn how to design, implement, and maintain forest gardens and other sustainable agroecological systems. Participants will experience both recently planted and well established 25-year old forest gardens, as well as other agroforestry in and around Dartington.Includes sessions on harvesting, preserving and cooking with forest garden produce.

We have impoverished our understanding of the world by focussing so much on mechanism. The proper relationship of the two brain hemispheres is one that balances head and heart; one that gives weight to reason, intuition and imagination.

It is this connection that offers us remarkable insights into the unique harmony between ancient wisdom and cutting-edge neuroscience.

Booking Deadline: 29 March 2021

The idea of this course is to investigate deeply the spiritual orientation(s) that best suits the country’s growing truth-telling, Non-Violent Direct Action (NVDA) movements - movements that are almost certainly our last chance at averting or softening societal collapse.

Booking Deadline: 3 April 2021*

A practical workshop to learn the basics of the NonViolent Communication process according to Dr. Marshall Rosenberg.

Participants will be invited to actively participate.

Course deadline: 21 April 2021*

A weekend of connecting deeply with trees in diverse ways, from identifying species and understanding basic tree biology, to intimate sensory experience and deep soulful connection.

This course is also running in March 2021. Click here for details.

Booking deadline: 23 April 2021

Led by Jenny Mackewn, with special contributors. This is a unique course introducing you to inspiring teachers and thinkers supporting you to develop your own personal leadership qualities and achieve your goals.

Join us for an eight-month journey that consists of:  A period of preparation,  a residential intensive and an 8 month community of practice through Virtual or Face-to-Face meeting.

Booking deadline: 26 April 2021

Gardening has a profound impact on the heart and soul. There will be talks by Satish Kumar on how we are all connected via the profound spiritual essence that is Nature and how through gardening we can connect intimately with nature; and by an expert on Islamic gardens, Emma Clark, on how gardening may be seen as a sacred art and on the spiritual symbolism of the Paradise Garden. Your experience will also include walks around the beautiful Dartington grounds and Qigong bamboo exercises led by the well-known and experienced practitioner June Mitchell.

Booking Deadline: 27 May 2021
 

Join Colin Campbell, Lucy Hinton and Andrew McAulay for a process of deep ritual and bring together two areas of practice; nature vigil, and breathwork techniques. This is a chance for relational interaction to contribute to the regeneration of people, and the 'other-than-human' kin who speak a language that is both strange and achingly familiar.

Booking Deadline: 30 April 2021*

This course will set you up with the basics of how to garden in a way that looks after the people, the plants and the whole ecosystem. Learn how to sow seeds, make great compost, look after your soil all in a way that restores the connection between human life and soil life.

Booking Deadline: 25 June 2021*

At a time of uncertainty in our world, the learnable skills of personal resilience strengthen our capacity to deal with difficult situations and rise to the occasion. Drawing upon psychological, relational and eco-spiritual perspectives, the course focuses on ways to cultivate resilience in ourselves (me), in other people (you), and within the teams, groups or communities we belong to (us). 

Booking Deadline: 26 July 2021*

For our Gaia's Kitchen short course, we will cook together a menu of lunches and suppers using garden produce and including some favourite menus inspired by our college cookbooks. We will also prepare chutney, sauerkraut, minced fruit for minced pies and a fruit cake which can be eaten at Christmas.

Booking deadline: 30 August 2021

This course provides an introduction to Transition Design, a new approach to seeding positive, systems-level change and catalysing the transition of entire societies toward more sustainable long-term futures.

Booking deadline: 9 May 2022